The mastro known as the emperor of Japanese cinema. Born in Tokyo in 1910, he joined P.C.L studio in 1936 when he was twenty-six, starting his work as a memver of the production team for Kajiro Yamamoto. After his directorial debut, Sugata Sanshiro in 1943, he built his own cinematic world after World War II: descibing the story of the people who lead individual loves, rehecting the froup in the dark and hopeless atmoshpere of the defeat. He led technical revolutions building up his own style, i.e. stylized mise-en-scene, excellent sense of editing, and adequate use of camerawork. It was Kurosawa who pioneered the use of long lenses and multple cameras and adopted wide screen for the first time. In addition, he was well grounded in culture and arts, which helped to ennoble his works. He was a giant who accepted everything ranging from Western literature, i.e. Dostoyevsky, Goruko, and Shakespeare to Janpanese traditional arts such as Kabuki and Noh. Hos achievement has recceived international respect. The international film scene actively helped Kagemusha to be completed and distributed internationally. Kagemusha won the Palm d’Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival.